No dunks for Moore

Following a historical season a year ago as a freshman, Maya Moore came inches away from creating another chapter late in the second half of Sunday's rout of then-No. 4 Oklahoma at Gampel Pavilion.

Moore stole the ball from

Danielle Robinson
with 2:53 left in the game and raced toward the basket. Without a defender in sight she had every intention of becoming the first player in team history to dunk a basketball. Instead, she was forced to lay it in.

"I have this thing with my hands and how they sweat,'' Moore said. "That, honestly, is what happened because I was feeling pretty good and I was by myself. I'm just glad it went in. Coach (
Geno Auriemma
) wants me to do a better job with that.''

Auriemma, seated in a chair next to Moore, just shook his head when she was talking about her failed attempt.

"That was a pathetic attempt,'' he said. "She's gotten a lot better. Freshman year, she tried and she missed the layup.''

ORDER NOW: Former Huskies guard and fan favorite
Mel Thomas
will begin a tour of the state in the coming weeks. Her book, "Heart of a Husky: Determination, Perseverance, and a Quest for a National Championship,'' is now available for purchase at
www.melthomas.com
and it will be shipped Dec. 15.

There are 1,000 copies in stock and they carry a price of $19.95.

Thomas will be holding several book signing events throughout the state later this month. She'll be at the
Waterford Library
Dec. 18 at 7 p.m., Monaco Ford in Glastonbury Dec. 20 from noon to 3 p.m. and at the
XL Center on New Year

's Eve at 11 a.m., where the Huskies will host Hartford at noon.

OPEN-ENDED: The Huskies had won 15 straight games in the series with Holy Cross entering Wednesday's game at Gampel Pavilion. Their margin of victory had been 28.9 points in this span.

But with the friendship between Auriemma and Holy Cross coach
Bill Gibbons
, the series is of the open-door variety, such as the series with Hartford and former UConn All-American
Jen Rizzotti
, the Hawks' coach.

The teams are involved in a deal that runs through the 2012-13 season, according to Gibbons. UConn had won 16 of the first 18 meetings.

"We do this for a lot of reasons,'' Gibbons said. "To get better, to be able to play against the best, to draw fans, for recruiting and for a lot of reasons. Some people think I'm nuts, but even the times we have gotten blown out, we have rebounded and gained something from the experience to become a better basketball team.''